TURKEY TO GUARANTEE FREE SPEECH AFTER EU CHIDING

Agence France Presse — English
November 6, 2007 Tuesday 7:31 PM GMT

Turkey on Tuesday said it would ensure freedom of speech and expression
as part of a fresh reform drive to catch up with European Union norms
after the bloc chided it for slowing down its efforts.

The government will soon move to amend an infamous law which provides
for up to four years in jail for "denigrating Turkishness," Justice
Minister Mehmet Ali Sahin said.

"Several drafts have been prepared in line with proposals by civic
groups. The cabinet will discuss them at first opportunity, select
one and submit it to parliament," Sahin told Anatolia news agency.

Dozens of intellectuals, among them 2006 Nobel literature laureate
Orhan Pamuk, have been tried under Article 301, mainly for contesting
the official line on the Ottoman massacres of Armenians, which many
countries have recognised as genocide, much to Turkey’s ire.

Several of them, including ethnic Armenian journalist Hrant Dink who
was murdered in January, were convicted, but their sentences were
suspended by the courts. No one has been imprisoned so far.

Earlier Tuesday, the European Commission, the EU’s executive arm,
said in an annual report on Turkey’s membership bid that the country
had achieved only limited progress in 2007.

"Our commitment to completing our shortcomings and efficiently
implementing the reforms on the ground is not decreasing — on the
contrary it is increasing," the Turkish foreign ministry said after
the release of the report.

"We are determined to pursue reform until our country catches up with
the highest levels of democracy and human rights," it said.

The government has already begun submitting to parliament proposals
for fresh reforms, it said, without giving details.

Ankara stressed its accession process should not be "shaped in line
with the preferences of the political leaders of some member states"
or "reduced" to the enforcement of a customs union pact calling for
trade privileges for Cyprus, which Turkey does not recognise.

"We hope our friends in the EU will show strong determination to
resist raising irrelevant obstacles on our way" to membership, the
statement said.

This appeared to be a reference to French President Nicolas Sarkozy,
a staunch opponent of Turkey’s accession who in June succeeded in
blocking the start of negotiations with Ankara on one of the three
chapters the Commission had recommended.

Talks in eight of the 35 policy fields candidate countries must
negotiate were already suspended last year in response to Ankara’s
refusal to open its sea and air ports to Greek Cypriot use.

Ankara had little time this year to deal with its EU bid as a
presidential election in April sparked a severe political crisis and
prompted early general elections in July.

The government is now engulfed in a crisis over the safe haven Kurdish
rebels enjoy in northern Iraq, threatening cross-border military
action to crack down on separatist bases there.